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MSc Human Evolution and Behaviour

About the programme

Darwinian theory has radically altered our understanding
of human life. Against this background, our masters course is designed to
provide students with a solid practical and theoretical grounding in issues
relevant to the evolution of humans and non-human primates. The compulsory
programme involves a seminar-based core module covering a choice of two topics
from three that are on offer (palaeoanthropology, primate socioecology, human
behavioural ecology), as well as attendance at the research seminar in
biological anthropology and at the graduate research methods seminar. Students
also choose three options from a variety of topics such as Anthropological and
Archaeological Genetics, Human Skeletal and Dental Biology, The Archaeology of
Pre-Modern Humans, Evolutionary Archaeology, Evolution of Cognition, Primate
Evolution, Documentary Filmmaking. Performance is largely assessed by
examination, essays and an MSc thesis.

This one-year masters programme offers a unique combination of courses related to primate and human evolution, ecology, behaviour and genetics.

The programme for the MSc in Human Evolution and Behaviour consists of:

Core Components

Human Behavioural Ecology – ANTHGH14

This component is
about the evolution of behaviour in humans. It examines how much of the
variation in behaviour can be understood in terms of maximising reproductive
success in different ecological and social circumstances. There is increasing
recognition that Darwinian approaches can contribute to our understanding of
human demography, health, psychology and culture, in hunter-gatherer,
traditional and modern agricultural and post-industrial societies. The course
will cover those aspects of our behaviour and life history that have parallels
in numerous species, and also those that may be uniquely human (such as menopause
and the demographic transition), including how cultural evolution has
influenced our behaviour. The subjects covered in the weekly seminars will
relate to those covered in the optional undergraduate lectures, but the first
two thirds of the lecture course is about theory and its application to
animals, with the last third being exclusively about humans, whereas the
seminar will concentrate on humans exclusively throughout. Areas covered:
theoretical approaches to the study of behavioural and evolutionary ecology
(such as kin selection, the comparative method and optimality), social
evolution (altruism, social living, life history theory, reproductive
strategies).

Primate Socioecology – ANTHGH15

The behaviour and
ecology of living primates will be studied, as well as the general theoretical
background to animal behaviour developed by evolutionary ecology. The focus is
on current Darwinian paradigms about the evolution of the societies of
primates. About 200 species including humans belong to this mammalian order.
Like all animals, they are faced with the problems of how to survive, breed and
rear offspring. Some animals do better in this regard than others - they have a
higher reproductive success and their genetic information will be more
frequently represented in future generations. The social behaviour of primates
is particularly complex and can be viewed as attempts to maximise
genetic fitness. The course asks how primates organise their social and
reproductive strategies to adapt to specific environmental conditions. Topics
covered will include social, mating, and breeding systems; sexual selection;
parenting behaviour; ecological competition; intra-specific aggression; social
intelligence (particularly deception and "language") and
technological intelligence (tool use); animal rights. Includes a visit to London Zoo.

Palaeoanthropology – ANTHGH16

This course
introduces the fossil evidence for human evolution and its interpretation. It
includes an introduction to techniques of species recognition and phylogenetic
reconstruction as well as to the molecular evidence of the human line in the
Miocene (23 - 5.5 mya). The second half of the course looks at the evolution
and adaptation of the genus Homo, its spread out of Africa and the
controversies surrounding subsequent evolution of modern humans. The
laboratory sessions aim to familiarise you with (1) the relevant comparative
anatomy, (2) the casts of the relevant fossils, and (3) the methodology and
techniques necessary to interpreter the fossil material.

Post-graduate
methods/Statistics 1 - ANTHGH03

This course introduces statistics and the R language
from their very basics. The course assumes no background knowledge of either
statistics or statistical software. Topics covered in Term 1 ANTHGH03 include an introduction to statistics in R, distributions, hypothesis testing
(t-tests, proportion tests, ANOVA), correlation, linear regression,
multivariate statistics (multiple regression, PCA, discriminant analysis) and
logistic regression.

Dissertation Project Presentation (end of term 2)

All students
present a 15-min preliminary dissertation proposal in front of peers and
members of staff, followed by a discussion.

Optional Courses

Note: Not all
options might be on offer during each session. A minimum number of five students
are required for any one option to be run. In reality, this is almost always
achieved, as students often originate from various programmes. There might be slight changes to lecturers and course
requirements from year to year.

Anthropology

Advanced Human Evolution – ANTHGH02

Statistics
2 - ANTHGH04

Anthropological and Archaeological Genetics – ANTHGH07

Primate Evolution – ANTHGH17

Practical
Ethnographic and Documentary Filmmaking – ANTHGS17/20/25

Archaeology

Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherers from the Emergence of
Modern Humans – ARCLG128

Variation and Evolution of the
Human Skull – ARCHLG144

Dental Anthropology – ARCHLG145

Evolution of the
Human Brain and Behaviour – ARCLG183

Archaeology of Early Human Origins – ARCLG271

Project Dissertation (50% of marks)

The
dissertation is based on independent research and thought. This may be achieved
at an empirical level (by presenting source or case materials) or at a
theoretical level (by exploring and synthesising previously published sources),
or in a mixed manner. A good dissertation demonstrates awareness of similar
research, situates itself critically in relation to what has come before and
will also point to other areas of research.

The
thesis supervisor will be chosen on the basis of topic and/or theoretical
expertise, and is typically an instructor of a core course or option course.
Other academics might act as supervisors during field or lab work phases, given
that students will often collect dissertation data in research groups located
outside UCL.

Some recent titles of MSc dissertations
include:

The Neanderthal and Homo erectus pelvis in human evolution

A quantitative analysis of gibbon behavioural ecology

The evolution of the mammalian sex chromosome heteromorphism

An evolutionary analysis of tool using behaviour: a computer simulation of the behaviours of complex life

Research seminars and activities

Biological Anthropology Seminars

Attendance is compulsory
for all post-graduate students. Tea, coffee and snacks are provided half an
hour before the seminar starts. Afterwards, speaker, members of staff and many
post-graduates go out for drinks and often also for dinner. This is an
opportunity to meet staff and students informally.

Examples
from previous lists of speakers:

Daryl Shanley (University of
Manchester): Evolution of menopause.

Mariko Hiraiwa-Hasegawa (Senshu
University & University of Tokyo): Patterns of homicide in Japan from an
evolutionary perspective.

Jeroen Smaers (UCL Department
of Anthropology): Brains, behaviour,
and how to link them across millions of years: the evolution of functionally
specialized neural circuits in primates

Andrew King (Structure and
Motion Laboratory, Royal Veterinary College, University of London): Living on the edge: How social relationships
define baboon success in the Namib Desert

Lisa Debruine (University of
Aberdeen School of Psychology): Evoked
culture and mate preferences

Dave Begun (University of
California at Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology): Hominine origins in Europe: Encephalization
and orthogrady

Asifa Majid (Max Planck
Institute for Psycholinguistics): Celebrity
and the Environment: Fame, Wealth and Power in Conservation

Chris Sandbrook (Cambridge
University Department of Geography): Power,
politics and public-private partnerships: investigating a new approach to
nature-based tourism in Uganda

Rebecca Drury (Fauna &
Flora International): Hungry for
success: the social drivers of urban demand for wild animals in Vietnam

Nichola Raihani (Zoological
Society of London): Crime and
punishment: insights from a non-human model system

Non-departmental
seminar series

UCL
and nearby academic institutions organise numerous seminar series which often
host word-class speakers. Attendance is optional for graduate students, but it
is expected and highly recommended that students use the opportunity to
familiarise themselves with the latest developments in Evolutionary Biology and
Evolutionary Anthropology. You can also, of course, attend one of the many
seminar series organised by other sections of the department, given that we
highly value multi-disciplinary approaches.

Current Course Tutors:

Volker
Sommer (Professor,
Evolutionary Anthropology) Evolution
of social and sexual behaviour in primates; field studies on monkeys and apes
in India, Thailand, Nigeria

Transferable Skills

Research skills

Students learn how to complete a quantitative, scientific research project, from inception to data analysis and writing up. Many of our students go on to do PhDs.

Personal effectiveness

Students learn how to conduct and complete a challenging, cross-disciplinary scientific masters degree.

Communication skills

Students make a presentation of project ideas to a group. Students learn to write up scientific results.

Teamworking and networking

Students
are often made aware of, and often make contact with, evolutionary
anthropologists throughout the world during this MSc. This provides an
ideal starting point for trying to develop future careers in
evolutionary anthropology.